In the scope of practical application of the invention, that of sausages, it is common for the same to be sold both inside the intestine it was cured in and cut into slices and packaged on trays.
In the second case, either the slicing and packaging is carried out completely automatically, or the sausage is packaged without peeling or it has to be peeled manually by the operators before introducing the pieces into the slicing machine.
It would thus be desirable to have a machine which allows the peeling of the sausages to be carried out automatically, in order to automate the entire process.
Attempting to overcome this problem, the present applicant is also the proprietor of the European patent EPO 2923579 “Machine for automatically peeling cured sausage” in which a machine for automatically peeling sausages is described, composed of a frame in which a first supply area of the product to be processed is defined, a cutting and peeling area, an outlet area of the clean and finished pieces and a final area towards which the waste is redirected for the subsequent treatment thereof such that the supply area consists of a type of inclined tray or guide on which the pieces are deposited, equipped with a mechanism for discharging the pieces on a guide arranged in the cutting area which is complemented by conveyor belts which longitudinally displace the piece along the guide such that in said area a longitudinal cutting knife is arranged as well as, in correspondence with the outlet end of the pieces, a mechanism for gripping the intestine and diverting the waste to the waste area and a transversal cutting knife, the outlet area including means for removing the clean pieces to the collection area.
The present applicant has been able to check that this installation is not as entirely effective as it should be since the intestine becomes strongly adhered to the sausage in normal humidity and temperature conditions, to which is added the fact that the mechanisms provided for cutting and removing the skins are also not suitable.